Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device for manipulating stacks formed of sheets for a rotary printing press by which the sheets are processable in one processing direction in a so-called nonstop operation, the device including an auxiliary stack support having a cantilevered end and being disposed in an operating position thereof so as to catch the sheets from below, and a carrier carrying the auxiliary stack support so that it is displaceable in and counter to the processing direction, the carrier having a bearing for supporting at an operating level the cantilevered end of the auxiliary stack support disposed in the operating position thereof.
A stack-manipulating device of this general type has become known heretofore from U.S. Pat. No. 3,180,638, for example. The auxiliary stack support thereof is formed like a rake and is installed for the purpose of temporarily carrying a stack which has become nearly exhausted until that stack is combined with a new stack. To ensure that the cantilevered ends of the tines of the rake, in the operating position of the latter, will be supported on a bearing, the heights at which the tines of the rake, on the one hand, and the bearing, on the other hand, are disposed must be adapted or matched to one another. This adaptation can be impaired, however, for example, if the tines of the rake deviate even slightly from an ideal, straight shape.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a stack-manipulating device of the foregoing general type described in the introduction hereto wherein support of the cantilevered end of the auxiliary stack support on the bearing is achievable even if the auxiliary stack support has defects in form which impair the adaptation or matching of the heights of the auxiliary stack support and the bearing relative to one another.